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Consumer Price Index, Cleveland-Akron-Lorain – January 2015

Local prices up 0.5 percent over the year

The Cleveland-Akron, Ohio, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) declined 0.7 percent from November to January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that food prices rose 1.5 percent and energy costs fell 13.3 percent over the bi-monthly period. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3 percent. Within this last category, costs were higher for shelter over the two-month period while apparel prices declined. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the past 12 months the Cleveland area all items CPI-U rose 0.5 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The energy index declined 18.6 percent from its January 2014 level due to a decrease in gasoline prices over the year. The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.2 percent over the past 12 months. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 1.5 percent from November to January following a small 0.1-percent decline over the previous bi-monthly period. Between the food index’s two components, prices for food at home (groceries) and food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) rose 2.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, from November to January. Over the year, food at home prices were up 3.8 percent while prices for food away from home rose 3.3 percent. Overall food costs rose 3.6 percent from a year ago.

Energy

The energy index fell 13.3 percent from November to January following a 7.3-percent decline over the previous bi-monthly period. In the recent period, declines in costs for gasoline (-30.0 percent), offset the increases in electricity (4.9 percent) and utility (piped) gas service (1.9 percent) costs.

Over the year, the energy index declined 18.6 percent. Annual increases in costs for electricity (5.3 percent), and utility (piped) gas service (4.5 percent), were more than offset by a 38.6 percent drop in gasoline prices.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3 percent from November to January. Among the index’s components, increases were recorded in costs for shelter (1.6 percent). Prices were lower for apparel (-7.1 percent) over the bi-monthly period.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.2 percent mostly due to a 3.8-percent annual increase in the cost of shelter. Also contributing, but to a lesser extent, were annual gains in costs for medical care (2.3 percent).

The March 2015 Consumer Price Index for Cleveland is scheduled to be released on Friday, April 17, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 28 percent of the total population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 retail establishments--department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17_a.htm.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. Note: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The Cleveland-Akron, Ohio consolidated area covered in this release is comprised of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit Counties in Ohio.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Footnotes(1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator.(2) Index is on a December 1982=100 base.(3) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.(4) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.(5) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.

- Data not available.
Note: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.